Summertime – all the time?

Road Safety body, GEM Motoring Assist, is urging the British government to put children’s safety first and agree to adopt Single/Double British Summertime (SDST). Our motoring journalist, Tim Barnes-Clay, reports.

Accident Prevention

Experts believe the move, involving an adjustment of the clocks to GMT + 1 in the winter and GMT + 2 in the summer, would prevent 80 deaths and more than 200 serious injuries on the UK’s road each year.

Dark Spells Danger

GEM road safety officer Neil Worth claims that the dark “spells danger for pedestrians”. According to Worth, there is a 10 per cent rise in fatal pedestrian collisions during the four weeks after the clocks go back. This is bad news when the latest casualty figures already show a 10 per cent rise in pedestrian fatalities year on year (2016 compared with 2015).

Benefits

Estimates from the Department for Transport’s own research suggest the benefits of a move to SDST would amount to nearly £140 million annually, with just a modest £5 million one-off investment in communicating the change.

Outdated

GEM’s Neil Worth said: “We believe the reasons for opposing the change – generally from those representing the interests of farmers and postal workers – are irrelevant and outdated. After all, farming technology is vastly improved, and postal deliveries take place throughout the day, not purely in the early mornings.”

Positive Change

He added: “GEM, in line with all safety groups, supports a change to SDST, because it will make a significant contribution to reducing deaths and serious injuries on our roads.”